OF CONVERSATION XVI. ON MONEY. THE USE OF MONEY AS A MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. OF COINING. USE OF MONEY AS A HOW FAR MONEY CON OF GOLD AND SILVER. TRY.- OF THE EXPORTATION OF MONEY. OF MEANS BY WHICH THE VALUE OF THE PRECIOUS METALS EQUALISES ITSELF IN ALL PARTS OF THE CIVILISED WORLD. MRS. B. HAVING obtained some knowledge of the nature of value, we may now proceed to examine the use of money. Without this general medium of exchange, trade could never have made any considerable progress; for as the subdivisions of labour increased, insuperable difficulties would be experienced in the adjustment of accounts. The butcher perhaps would want bread, at a time that the baker did not want meat; or they might each be desirous of exchanging their respective commodities, but these might not be of equal value. CAROLINE. It would be very difficult, I believe, at any time to make such reckonings exactly balance each other. MRS. B. In order to avoid this inconvenience, it became necessary for every man to be provided with a commodity which would be willingly taken at all times in exchange for goods. Hence arose that useful representative of commodities, money, which, being exclusively appropriated to exchanges, every one was ready either to receive or to part with for that purpose. CAROLINE. When the baker did not want meat he would take the butcher's money in exchange for his bread, because that money would enable him to obtain from others what he did want. MRS. B. Various commodities have been employed to answer the purpose of money. Mr. Salt, in his Travels in Abyssinia, informs us, that wedges of salt are used in that country for small currency, coined money being extremely scarce. A wedge of rocksalt, weighing between two and three pounds, was estimated at 1-30th of a dollar. CAROLINE. How extremely inconvenient such a bulky article must be as a substitute for money coined; the carriage of it to any distance would cost almost as much as the salt was worth. MRS. B. A commodity of this nature could be used for the purpose of money in those countries only where very few mercantile transactions take place, and where labour is very cheap. Tobacco, shells, and a great variety of other articles, have been used at different times, and in different countries, as mediums of exchange; but nothing has ever been found to answer this end so well as the metals. They are the least perishable of all commodities; they are susceptible, by the process of fusion, of being divided into any number of parts without loss, and being the heaviest, they are the least bulky of all bodies. These properties render them peculiarly appropriate for the purposes of commerce and circulation. CAROLINE. The use of metals as money must be very ancient, for mention is made in history of the iron coin of the Greeks, and the copper coin of the Romans. MRS. B. Nor are gold and silver coins of modern date; but they were scarce before the discovery of the American mines. The first gold coins were struck at Rome, about 200 years before Christ. Those of silver about 65 years earlier. Previous to that period the as, which was of copper, was the only coin in common use. CAROLINE. It is said in the Bible that Abraham gave 400 shekels of silver for the purchase of the field of Machpelah, to bury Sarah in. - Was that, do you suppose, coined money? MRS. B. No: I believe there was no coined money of so ancient a date as the time of Abraham. The metals were originally used for the purpose of money in bars; and it is mentioned that Abraham weighed the silver for the purpose; which would have been unnecessary had it been coined. Before 4 the invention of coining, the use of the metals as a medium of exchange was attended with great inconvenience; it being necessary not only to weigh, but also to assay the metal, to ascertain both its quantity and its degree of purity. The invention of coining superseded this inconvenience; for coining money is affixing to a piece of metal a particular stamp or impression, which declares that it is of a certain weight and quality. Thus the impression on a guinea signifies that it is a piece of gold of a certain fineness, weighing 107 grains nearly. CAROLINE. Money must also be of great use in fixing the value of commodities; before its introduction the butcher and the baker might dispute which was worth most, the joint of meat or the loaf of bread which they wished to exchange. MRS. B. Yes; money became useful not only as a medium of exchange, but also as a common measure of value. You will learn hereafter that it is not, any -more than labour, a very accurate measure, when the values of one period are compared with the values of another distant period; but for the common purposes of traffic it answers sufficiently well. Previous to the invention of money, men were much at a loss how to estimate the value of their |